It is common knowledge that the American prison system has grown exponentially in the last few decades. The prison population within the last forty years has risen by two million inmates. Multiple factors such as overcrowding and cost cutting have also decreased the quality of life within prisons by an order of magnitude. With this rising statistic, it becomes increasingly urgent to understand the effect of incarceration on our prisoners and whether the reformation process is actually doing more harm than good.
Advances in Psychology offer us a greater lens to study the tangible effects of incarceration on the brain and whether there are long-term side effects that could persist well after release. It is crucial to understand these negatives as the repercussions of ignorance could result in a severe rise in recidivism as well as permanent damage to the psyche of those sentenced to incarceration.
While dedicated research on the subject of psychological damage as a result of imprisonment is surprisingly sparse there are a few articles that touch on the subject. Prison is a ripe case study for many Psychology scholars due to its inherently insular nature and varied subcultures. Researchers have noticed frightening trends among inmates such as increased aggression, impairment of executive functions, and increased development of psychosomatic disorders.
The purpose of this paper is to correlate the research from multiple sources over a period of time that have observed the
Whenever you imagine prison, you think up ideas and violent images that you have seen in the movies or on TV. Outdated clichés consisting of men eating stale bread and drinking dirty water are only a small fraction of the number of horrible, yet “just” occurrences which are stereotypical of everyday life in prison. Perhaps it could be a combination of your upbringing, horrific ideas about the punishment which our nation inflicts on those who violate its’ more serious laws that keeps people frightened just enough to lead a law-abiding life. Despite it’s success in keeping dangerous offenders off the streets, the American prison system fails in fulfilling its original design of restoring criminals to being productive members of society, it is also extremely expensive and wastes our precious tax dollars.
The current prison and criminal justice system has not proven to be helpful in rehabilitating offenders and preventing recidivism. To successfully alter this situation it is important to understand what steps and measures are available to assist those who find themselves imprisoned. The techniques used in cognitive behavioral therapy have proven to be effective in treating depression, anxiety and drug addictions among other things. Analyzing the techniques developed in cognitive behavioral theory and applying them to psychotherapy in prison environments can assist in making improvements in the prevention of criminal activity, rates of incarceration and safety and security of the general population. The literature shows that the use of
In the essay "Prison "Reform" in America," Roger T. Pray points out the much attention that has been devoted to research to help prevent crimes. Showing criminals the errors of their ways not by brutal punishment, but by locking them up in the attempt to reform them. Robert Pray, who is a prison psychologist, is currently a researcher with the Utah Dept. of Corrections. He has seen what has become of our prison system and easily shows us that there is really no such thing as "Prison Reform"
Did you know that the United States has more prisoners than any other country in the world? Well, shockingly enough, it does. “More than 1.57 million inmates sat behind bars in federal, state, and county prisons and jails around the country as of December 31, 2013” (Flatow). The major problem this causes, other than diminishing the image of the U.S., is the substantial amount money that we spend on our prisons. Every year, billions of dollars go toward our justice system and the prisons that are connected to them. “Prior to this year, the federal prison population had spiked more than 790 percent since 1980” (Flatow). Across the country, racial issues continue to be a problem as a black male is six times more likely than a white to be in prison, and a Hispanic male is 2.4 times more likely (Flatow). Racial controversy has continued to spread. As the years go by it appears that more and more crimes are linked to racism and supremacy. These crimes may consist of
Overall, Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is just one of the many mental health problems that comes as a result of traumatic experiences that have or will happen while incarcerated. Gorski (n.d.) also indicated that PICS is a contributing factor to the high rate of recidivism. This is why it is believed more should be done to prevent current and future offenders from suffering. Liem and Kunst (2013) believe that “recognizing the post-incarceration syndrome in the DSM-V as a subtype of PTSD may allow for more adequate recognition of the effects of incarceration” (p.337). In the next topic discussed we will be taking a look at the causes and effects that incarceration has on individuals’ mental health.
Kenneth Young was 18 years old when he received four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He had an extremely bad childhood. His mother was addicted to crack and many times never came home or if she did, she was not able to take care of her children. This forced Kenneth to be the “man” of the house and take care of his siblings at a very young age. He was continually bounced between his grandmother and his mother’s house.
The American Prison System For years the American Prison System has had many problems. Two of the main problems that we face with the American Prison System are overcrowding of the jails and the way the inmates are treated. There has also been a problem with the joint planning and budgeting among the different agencies of the American Prison System. According to the textbook (Abadinsky, 2015), when this occurs, the system is known to not be systematic.
The figure above compares the U.S incarceration rate with the rates of countries such as Canada, Australia, and European countries. The Western European democracies possess a rate of incarceration that taken together is only one-seventh the rate of the United States. Moreover, the rate imprisonment of Russia is only two-thirds of the U.S. rate. For instance, there is a reason why the rate of incarceration is significantly high compared to the rest of the world, profit. The bigger the number of people incarcerated, the bigger the pool of workers in correctional institutions.
In the U.SMass incarceration is male minorities being the majority in the prison system and the majority targeted for it. ., “In the U.S., African Americans are over six times as likely to be incarcerated as whites ; latinos over twice as likely” (- Hartney) . Leading to that mass incarceration starts with the school-to-prison pipeline. It pushes minorities into jails by disproportionately punishing them which leads to higher dropout rates. More counselling and support programs will help decrease incarceration rates. Physical tactics and restraints with jail like disciplinary makes up for a future of incarceration. Minorities are singled out with more repercussions than any other ethnicity. Without the support of teachers and staff, it keeps students ,male, from being encouraged to stay in school, statistically proven.
In America, people are sent to prison with the goal for the convict to be punished, to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law. Each year, millions of people are released from prison, but roughly two-thirds of the prisoners who were released reoffend within three years of leaving prison, often with a more serious and violent offense. This can be attributed to the ineffective correction style that America has adopted: punishment. American prisons have focused more on punishment than correcting the character, attitudes, and or behavior of the convicted offender and this has held an adverse effect on one’s incorporation into society after incarceration. The treatment of prisoners while they are
Whenever you imagine prison, you think up ideas and violent images that you have seen in the movies or on TV. Outdated clichés consisting of men eating stale bread and drinking dirty water are only a small fraction of the number of horrible, yet just occurrences which are stereotypical of everyday life in prison. Perhaps it could be a combination of your upbringing, horrific ideas about the punishment which our nation inflicts on those who violate its’ more serious laws that keeps people frightened just enough to lead a law-abiding life. Despite it’s success in keeping dangerous offenders off the streets, the American prison system fails in fulfilling its original design of restoring criminals to being productive members of society, it is also extremely expensive and wastes our precious tax dollars.
Incarceration has been in existence since the early age of society; at the beginning it was being used as a form of punishment in order to force the inmate to reflect on the consequences of his/her actions. Basically, it was a way to incite the self-consciousness within in order to prevent the same from occurring. At first, it was seen as a form of counseling. This practice was later
Does long-term incarceration affect a prisoners’ psychological and mental state after being released out of prison or reimburse yourself?
Imprisonment is a popular way of dealing with crime, and more people are being sent to prison than ever before. However, pains and deprivations characterize the experience of imprisonment. Furthermore, there is little evidence showing a direct decline in crime from the use of imprisonment, hence highlighting its limited restriction effect. There are also few reliable and valid measures of future offending that allow incapacitation of the appropriate offenders, therefore limiting the potential of incapacitation. Finally, only a handful of programs have positive effects on some prisoners, thus likewise limiting the potential rehabilitative effect of imprisonment. From an economic standpoint, imprisonment is also costly and inefficient. With
Individuals are sent to prison be punished for a crime committed and to be kept away from society. While some criminals are violent sociopaths, and may never be rehabilitated, many criminals can be corrected and taught to improve themselves. A variety of programs are designed to help inmates learn from their mistakes and prepare for release. These programs require funding, and with an imperfect penal system, there are certain elements of prison which may exacerbate criminal behavior.